KitNapped

As mentioned last week, Nea, who gave birth 13 days ago, took her kitties out of their box, and we didn't know where to find them. Perhaps there were predators out, or too many people visiting, but last week when the kids came home from school, there was only one baby left in their box, and then Nea showed up and hauled that kitten off to their unknown locale. Bunch tried to follow her, but couldn't find her.

So today, I tried to keep a lookout all day because there was snow on the ground and I planned to follow her tracks. All morning there was no sign of her. Finally, once the snow was melted (foiled!), I caught her outside eating. I thought "here's my chance, I'll follow her".

It's like she knew that was my intent. She sort of moseyed around, sniffing every blade and branch, looking back to see if I was there. She'd stop and clean herself and stretch, checking to see if I was still watching her. Finally she meandered into the neighbor across the street's back yard.

This particular neighbor is a self-proclaimed recluse. We lived here for 20 months before I ever saw him, and Nea was the cause of our finally meeting him. A dog was in our front yard growling one night, it sounded almost like a bear. Knowing Nea was outside, I opened the door and saw this big black Lab on our walk, and Nea scrunched up into the "halloween cat" posture hissing at it. "NEO", the owner called out from nearby, and then to me he said "Don't worry, he's all bark, no bite". I told him the cat was named Nea, which I thought was funny.

We introduced ourselves and I found out he was our mystery neighbor. He's fairly young, probably mid twenties, nice looking guy. He doesn't work. I don't know how he supports himself, but he said he never interacts with anyone. I asked what he does, ie: college, work. He said he doesn't really do anything. Curious, I pressed him (is he a lotto winner or something?), and he said he's into online games, such as video or role-playing games, not gambling. After chatting for a few minutes, we parted on friendly terms. I'm glad to finally meet him, and hope we see more of him in the future.

So today, I'm standing in his backyard, waiting to see where Nea would go. She wasn't fooled. After playing this game for nearly 2 hours, with me hunting around and listening, she finally hopped up into one of the boats out there. There are two pretty neglected boats in this yard. I'd already looked around in this boat myself, but couldn't see anywhere that they would be, nor could I hear them.

Nea must have really had to get back to them, either that or she realized I wasn't going to give up (score one for Blue), because she finally cast one last backward glance at me, before slipping through a small hole in the corner under the steering wheel dash and side of the boat, into an unreachable section of the boat. (Score one for Nea.) There is no way anyone would have ever found her hiding spot without witnessing it.

So I know where they are, but we can't see or access them. I guess when they're goodNready they'll come out. Till then, no pictures. Wah!